A plurality of semiconductor devices (“semiconductor chips” or “chips”) formed on a single semiconductor substrate are subject to a characteristic measurement and are sorted into non-defectives or defectives.
The semiconductor substrate is diced into individual semiconductor devices, from which non-defective ones are sorted out selectively. The non-defective semiconductor devices which are sorted out are sent to subsequent processes.
A known method for sorting out non-defectives or defectives from among a plurality of semiconductor devices formed on a semiconductor substrate includes providing markings by, for example, ink dots on semiconductor devices that are determined to be defective through a characteristic measurement.
Another known approach to selectively sorting out and obtain individuated non-defective or defective semiconductor devices adopts usage of data including position information of the non-defective and defective semiconductor devices generated through a characteristic measurement or the like. In this approach, no marking is provided on the semiconductor devices.
For example, the semiconductor devices are distinguished in the following manner: data including position information of the non-defective and defective semiconductor devices generated through a characteristic measurement or the like is displayed on a protective film attached to a surface of a semiconductor substrate; the displayed data is read and used for the sorting out of the semiconductor devices after a dicing process.